


Things We Carry

by proser132



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Fluff, JUST, M/M, Wow, after all, but just as freaking character-study-ish, considerably shorter than the other ones, you are what you guard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-13
Updated: 2015-10-13
Packaged: 2018-04-26 07:08:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4994947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/proser132/pseuds/proser132
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack knows Bunny is the Guardian of Spring and Hope, and Life; he thinks that's just neat.<br/>Bunny knows Jack is the Guardian of Winter and Joy, but he's not quite prepared for what else Jack is the Guardian of.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Things We Carry

**Author's Note:**

> ahahahaha the ride never ends
> 
> also porny like the other ones, but this one has a neat little coda that you can choose to ignore entirely!
> 
> someone gave me a prompt of 'cherry stems' for something completely different ages ago and then i was like 'ha that would be a funny thing to write for RotG wouldn't it' and then I ended up with pining!Aster and emotions and more EXAMINATION OF HOW SPIRITS WORK BECAUSE APPARENTLY Longtime Watchers DIDN'T SATISFY THAT URGE IN ME
> 
> Anyway here you lot go I'd apologise but who are we even kidding at this point

**Things We Carry**

 

'Hey, Bunny!'

Aster groaned, sitting back on his heels and looking over to his left; _right on schedule_ , he thought wearily, and tried to push back all of the irritation that tried to rise in him. 'Can I help ye, Frost?' he said loudly as the other Guardian made his way over, walking instead of flying.

For the past seven days solid, and pretty regularly for the three weeks before that, Jack Frost had been lobbing in for loud and completely unnecessary 'visits' that did nothing for Aster's nerves. It had been bad enough when he saw the bloke regularly at the now once monthly Guardian meetings, but now it was becoming a daily torture.

Jack seemed to be taking his sweet time wandering over to Aster, and for a moment, it was easy to forget most things that Aster normally kept strictly in check. The sunlight made Jack's hair look less white and more silver, shining brightly, and Jack looked at ease here, among the flowers and trees, his crook loose in his grip;  _Spring looks good on him,_ Aster thought with something that bordered dangerously on affection, and then stomped on the thought with everything he had.  _It's just the light_ , he told himself firmly,  _and that's the truth._

'How ye going?' he asked once Jack had drawn closer, and returned to his thinning of the strawberry plant in front of him. She was newly planted, and if he pinched off the flowers now, she would be much healthier in the long run, especially if he kept her runners short. He still disliked it, and set each flower aside carefully, planning on drying them and using them as a base for one of the healing salves he'd been putting off making for yonks now.

'I'm doing great,' Jack said, his usual cheer like a gust of fresh air on Aster's fur, which Aster ignored handily. He also ignored how his ears dropped gently to either side, the way they only did late at night as he curled warmly into his nest, and when Jack was in a good mood. 'Late spring up north, and early fall down south; it's like I'm on vacation or something.'

'Cause ye're such a battler,' Aster snorted.

Jack grinned; there was still something of a cultural misunderstanding when they spoke (the first time Jack had asked him what he was rooting around for had led to a bit of a blue before they got it all sorted out), but Jack was pretty quick on the uptake for all that he looked like a raging larrikin, and he got most of what Aster was saying now.

'Well, maybe not, but it's not really time for me to do anything, so I'm just kind of floating around.' As if to prove his point, he jumped into the air and laid back like it was the easiest thing in the world – and for him, it was. Aster rolled his eyes at the display, flicking his ears forward.

'Is that why ye've been rocking up at all hours? Ye're bored?'

Jack squinted at him, flipping over in the air to lie on his stomach and pillow his arms under his chin, his shepherd's crook tucked into his elbow. 'Well, yeah,' he said. 'I mean, I see Tooth and North, too, but it's different. When I'm at North's he always wants me to test out toys, which was cool the first ten times. And Tooth has a hard time keeping her hands out of my mouth, so she's not the greatest conversationalist.'

'So what ye're saying is I should put ye to work,' Aster said, and Jack groaned.

'Oh, god, please don't. You're the only person who just lets me wander around. Everyone else is constantly bothering me and talking and – ugh. I love them, they're great friends, but I don't like being inside all the time.'

Aster looked up at him and frowned. 'Ye don't like being inside?' Jack gave him a look, and he acknowledged the silent point with a flick of his right ear. 'Even so, ye could go see Sandy.' Aster turned back to the strawberry and carefully didn't look up as he added, 'I mean, he's all over the world all the time, it's got to be more of a lark than coming to me Warren.'

'He can be kind of hard to understand,' Jack said slowly. 'I've been getting better, but he still goes too fast. And –' he was silent a moment. 'I dunno, never mind. Am I bothering you?'

'What?' Aster said, snapping his head around involuntarily and flattening his ears to his skull. 'Course not!'

'Are you sure?' Jack said, and his gaze was too piercing by half. 'You seem to be trying pretty hard to get me to leave.'

_Only because it hurts to see ye, Jack, and not say anything._ 'I'm not,' Aster said, focussing on the strawberry so that he didn't have to look at Jack head on. 'Just can't get a bead on why ye would want to spend yer time here, but reckon that's yer own bizzo.'

'I just told you,' Jack said, and his voice was amused over Aster's shoulder. 'You just let me float around. You don't talk as much as the others. It's like being alone, but I'm not actually alone, I'm alone with you. If that makes any sense.'

Aster's heart hurt, and he drew in a silent breath before saying as grumpily as he could, 'Glad to see me hermit ways are doing a body good, then.'

Jack laughed, and Aster ached, ears still flat to his head. It had sounded for a moment – but, no. He was the Guardian of Hope, and he could see a hopeless cause better than anyone.

'You got any cherry trees with fruit, Bunny?' Jack said, and it was such a non sequitur that Aster sat back and stared at him, ears forward at attention. 'Or apples, maybe?'

'Prolly not,' he said. 'Spring, not Fall, remember? Why?'

'Haha,' Jack said, rolling his eyes and clearly ignoring Aster's question. 'Seriously, none?'

'Fruit's more Summer and Fall, mate,' Aster shrugged. 'Me thing's more flowers.'

'But you're Life, right?' Jack said, sounding quite reasonable. 'Doesn't fruit count under that, growing things and stuff?'

Aster scratched his ear with a hind paw self-consciously; most people forgot the whole Life thing, and focussed on the Spring and Hope. 'Maybe,' he said cautiously. 'Never really tried. Seemed a bit crass, to intrude on someone else's Season like that.'

'This is your home though, right? And I know you do some vegetables, I've seen the garden,' Jack argued. 'Have Summer or Fall ever been here before?'

'No,' Aster admitted. 'But then, no one's been here except ye lot since before the last Ice Age.' He tensed under Jack's open surprise. He was going to have a dent in his skull, with how tight his ears were to his head lately. 'It's not that strange, Jack, to keep yer home private.'

'But you just let me – wander in, now,' Jack said. 'Really, no one?'

'I said I had me hermit ways,' Aster grouched. 'Now it's just ye lot, because me fur will turn pink before I let something like Pitch happen again, but I still like me privacy.'

'I guess so,' Jack said, and for a moment, Aster thought he'd successfully distracted Jack from his new mission, but then Jack smiled brightly. 'See, no one will know if you make some fruit!'

Aster groaned, but Jack pushed on. 'Seriously, Life has to outweigh Seasons anyway, right?'

'Now yer talking about Mother Earth's territory, and I'm not stepping on  _her_ toes,' he said firmly. 'I'm not suicidal, thanks. There's easier ways to off meself.' Well, actually, he couldn't die, or else the whole planet went with him; but she could make Life  _very_ painful if she thought he was insulting her. She was a tad mercurial in her moods. 

'Pfft, no,' Jack said, and set down on the earth, leaning on his crook and balancing on one leg. 'She's Creation and Destruction, which kind of plays into Life, but it also covers Death? She's a lot of things, like just as much Winter as I am, and as much Spring and Summer and Fall as you and – whoever the other two are. Have I met them yet?'

'No, and ye probably won't,' Aster said. 'Kind of private folk. And they're not Guardians.'

'So it can't hurt to try,' Jack said triumphantly, and Aster sighed.

'Why are ye on this, Jack?' he asked seriously, turning and facing Jack fully. 'What's got ye so deadset?'

'I think it would be cool,' Jack said simply. 'I like the Warren a lot – don't think I don't – but I think it would look more like it belonged to you if it wasn't  _just_ Spring, you know?'

'No, I don't,' Aster said flatly, ears twitching in irritation.

'Like berries everywhere,' Jack continued as if Aster hadn't spoken. 'And fruit trees, and nut trees. Wild plants that flower in seasons other than spring, and flowers that need cold or need heat growing side by side. Oh, tall grasses, and grains! Wheat and barley and flax –'

It was a beautiful picture he was painting, Aster could admit that much. The vision of it almost wavered in front of his eyes, colours of every kind, warm oranges and bright purples to heat the ubiquitous green; but Aster shook the vision away.

'If it's all the same to ye,' Aster interrupted, 'I like the Warren as she is.'

Jack seemed to deflate. 'Well, it was just an idea,' he said, shuffling in place. 'Sorry, Aster.'

'Don't be,' Aster said, more gruff than he meant to be. 'It wasn't a bad idea, it's just not – just not really me, Jack.'

'Okay,' Jack agreed, but his voice was still tentative.

'Can ye do me a favour,' Aster said after a moment, 'and water that patch over there?'

'I'll turn the water to ice,' Jack protested, and Aster gave him a look.

'I know ye won't, ye've got better control than that,' he scolded, and Jack began to smile again.  _He should always be smiling,_ Aster thought before he could quash it, and something of the thought must have shown in his face, because Jack's smile grew stronger.

'Fine, god, I knew I shouldn't have told you about the others,' Jack whinged, but it was alright; he was smiling again.

'I'll make sure to tell them that tonight,' Aster said, just to hear Jack whinge some more.

 

 

'Hey, Bunny, can I have a word?' Tooth said once Nick had declared the meeting over. As usual, it had barely counted as a meeting, since all that happened was they got together, ate, talked, and parted cheerfully. It was closer to a low-key party in Aster's opinion, but if he pointed that out, Nick would probably try to make it more business-like, and Aster would take the relaxed atmosphere over Nick's idea of “business” in a trice.

'Can I do anything for ye?' he asked, and behind them, Nick seemed to be getting into an argument with Sandy. Aster didn't speak Russian, and neither could Jack, but from the sounds of things the larrikin seemed to enjoy egging them on anyway.

'Can we take a walk? I need to go soon, but we should talk,' Tooth said, smiling, and Aster shrugged; Tooth was one his more easygoing friendships, simply because she kept so busy. It was mostly quick conversations and hugs and fondness, which was much easier than his old, old friendship with Sandy, his slightly contentious one with Nick, and his own problems with Jack.

'Happy to take ye on a walkabout,' he said, and tossed a goodbye over his shoulder that was mostly ignored. They strolled off towards the entrance hall, companionably silent, until Tooth paused and turned to face him.

'Aster, are you doing all right?' she asked very seriously, and Aster blinked, swivelling his ears around to face her.

'Course I am, why shouldn't I be?'

'Okay,' she said, and fidgeted with one of her long feathers under his gaze. 'I just worry, is all,' she finally added, when Aster had made it clear he wasn't going to say anything until she did. 'You know as well as I do that things have been shaky ever since – well, ever since Pitch.'

'I know,' he said, softening a bit, his ears relaxing. 'But I'm alright, really I am. Ye don't need to worry about me any.'

'See, that's why I worry,' she insisted, still playing with the feather. 'You always say not to worry, not to worry, but you worry about everyone else. You'll keep Nick from the vodka on Christmas Eve, because you know that he gets nervous, and that it can go badly if someone isn't around to help out. You helped me out with the teeth a few years back, because some of my fairies came down with the flu.' She let go of the feather and reached out to take one of his paws in her tiny hands. 'You'll check in with Sandy because sometimes he gets lost in memories, and you're the only familiar thing he knows. And you worry about Jack all the time – don't think we don't know,' she warned, reaching up and patting his cheek. 'Nick said you started reading up on dangerous winter spirits he has to herd around, and you've been making medicines just in case he gets hurt. We know. He doesn't, because he's Jack, and doesn't think anyone worries about him, but you do.'

Aster held very still, ears creeping down to tuck themselves flat; he must have been a right dill to think he was being subtle. Everyone knew, then, and Tooth was picking her moment to warn him off.

And then she shocked him utterly by saying, 'Who worries for you?'

'Ye do, clearly,' he said automatically, but it wasn't really an answer, and she shook her head sadly, settling her hand back atop his paw.

'But you won't let me, or Nick or Sandy, not really,' she said. 'And I know there's nothing I can do about that, nothing  _we_ can do about that. But Jack is new, and you haven't had time to build up your excuses and your walls and all of your loneliness.' She squeezed his paw between her hands with a deceptively strong grip; she was always stronger than she looked, he knew, always infinitely more resilient than her fragile wings and delicate face would lead you to believe. 'So do me a favour, Aster, and  _don't_ . Don't shut him out. And maybe someday you'll let us back in, too.'

Aster didn't have words, and she seemed to understand that, because she patted his cheek again and said, 'And really, you need to visit more often! It can't be good to spend all that time alone!' before taking off, headed for home.

Aster tapped twice, opening up a tunnel beneath him, and even as he ran for home, his mind was distracted.  _At least_ , he thought at last, bounding up into his home,  _she doesn't know I – well, the whole thing, really._ It could have gone much worse, he reasoned, and managed a smile as he crawled into his nest, suddenly tired.

It was good to have friends who cared, he thought sleepily, even if they had the wrong end of things. Shutting Jack out would be better for him, he knew, but that wasn't an option anymore. Hadn't been for years, not since Pitch, not since he'd smiled, not since –

_A very long time,_ Aster finished, and dropped off into sleep.

 

 

 

Aster looked at the strawberry plant with a critical eye. This was one of the everbearer varieties, which he'd only really kept for the flowers, since they fruited in summer. Here in the Warren, where everything was spring, none of these strawberries had ever done so, the season entirely wrong for it. Sure, he had strawberries that  _did_ fruit, but they were completely different varieties, and he'd never seen fit to try and make these ones do something out of season.

Now, feeling like he was about to be sprung any moment, he crouched down and held out a paw.

Magic he hadn't bothered to reach for in thousands of years answered.

He'd only used Spring magic for yonks now; all he needed to do was wake up the world from Winter, after all. He wasn't bringing it back to life. Slowly, over time, he'd just stopped using Life in his day to day tasks, and now it felt strange beneath his palm.

The strawberry plant stretched out luxuriously in the sway of the magic; her leaves darkened, her flowers bloomed larger and healthier than before, and the petals fell away as the fruit expanded outward, going from white to pink to a brilliant red in a matter of seconds.

He reined the magic in once again and it ebbed away slowly. His control over it was rusty, which was no surprise – thousands of years of disuse was going to take time to overcome.

Picking one of the berries and popping it into his mouth, he found it far sweeter than any he grew with his Spring magic. He sat back and studied the plant, which waved cheerfully beneath his gaze and the slight breeze that always seemed to haunt the Warren lately.

Spring had her place, and it was an important one, one that Aster cherished; but he wondered now if perhaps he'd been letting something slip in his focus. He wondered if the vision Jack had described was not so much strange as it was frightening, beautiful and terrible at once. And he wondered what the Warren would look like with branches bearing both heavy fruit and flowers.

The thought made his heart ache, until he imagined a white haired boy beneath the boughs. Then it seemed only natural, that there should be fruit here, that there should be vegetables and grains and flowers and grasses, and as he began to design new layouts and structures he thought of Jack's face when he found out.

 

 

'What are you doing?' Jack asked, walking over again. Aster had noticed that, after the first few visits; Jack tended to walk in the Warren, where he almost solely flew in the Nick's workshop or Tooth's palace. It was like he wanted his feet in contact with the earth at all times, like he wanted to feel earthbound for a short while. It was breathtaking when Aster first noticed it. Now, every time he saw Jack with his feet firmly planted in the earth, it was hard not to smile.

'Putting out some new plants,' Aster said, patting the earth around one of the transplanted wild blackberry bushes he'd found up in the mountains of Vermont. He'd always liked Vermont, perhaps the best out of the whole of North America. When it was green, it was green all over, and the fields of red clover and lupine flowers, dandelions and blackeyed susans were a sight to see.

'That's cool,' Jack said, leaning over Aster's shoulder. He could only do it because Aster was crouched down, but it was a heady feeling anyway, to have Jack above him. He felt it whenever Jack flew, too. He liked that Jack walked the earth around him, but he liked it when Jack was in his own natural element, too, the way he flew as naturally as Aster ran. 'What is it?'

'Ye wanna see?' Aster said, preparing himself.

Jack stepped to the side, and his face was a little confused.

With a great joy rising in him, Aster reached out, with his hands and with his soul.

The vine flowered quickly, but the flowers were short-lived. After only a second, they disappeared behind the swelling fruit that was growing, almost black and shining like polished stones. Jack's hand flew out and clutched Aster's shoulder, which startled Aster so badly that his already shaky control snapped and broke, for just a moment.

A moment was enough.

Like a riving rising over her banks, the magic sang free, spilling out from Aster and whiting out his vision: instead of seeing, he knew, and it was an alien sensation in his mind. Life ran through the Warren, and everything she touched became  _more_ . Roses ripened into rosehips, the flowering apple trees grew heavy under the weight of fruit they'd never held before, and in the field he kept fallow for the aesthetic quality of rippling grass sprouted wild rice, heads dancing in the current.

Beside him, he could feel Jack – once dead, now beyond death and into something new and unnamed – like a flicker of light, dimming and brightening unpredictably. That instability had to hurt; it was unnacceptable. Aster didn't think, just reached out and steadied the light, stoking it higher until it burned without wavering. Jack's shocked choking noise snapped Aster's mind back to itself, and with desperate yank, Aster cut off the magic.

The Warren was strangely silent now that Life wasn't roaring in his ears, and Aster whirled. 'Jack, I'm so sorry – are ye –' then he froze.

Jack was staring at him with wide blue eyes, mouth open, and though nothing had visibly changed, he glowed with all the health of fierce sunlight off snow.

'Aster,' he whispered, and his voice had an undercurrent of warmth that Aster had never heard, heat like fire and entirely involuntary, 'what did you  _do_ ?'

 

 

'I came here to tell you something,' Jack said once they were in Aster's den, a steaming cup of tea beside him. Aster still had no idea what had happened, but refused to believe it when Jack claimed he was perfectly fine, thanks so much.

'What was it?' Aster asked, bustling around the kitchen and keeping his head down. He couldn't believe himself. The nerve of messing with someone else the way he had, with as powerful a force as Life, and without permission? It was unthinkable. It was  _wrong_ . He couldn't bear to look Jack in the face.

'I found out I'm the Guardian of something else,' Jack said, picking up the tea with a gentle ceramic clink. Aster broke a plate in the sink.

'Ye're  _what_ ?'

'The Man in the Moon talked to me,' Jack said, his scowl evident in his voice. 'Seems like he only talks when it's convenient for him, but whatever.' He took a deep, bracing gulp of the tea, from the sound of it. 'Of course, he doesn't actually talk, which would be way too easy. He just kind of puts images in my head and expects me to string them together, which lucky for him I did this time.'

Aster turned, keeping his eyes on the table instead of risking Jack's gaze. 'And so yer the Guardian of Winter, Joy, and...?'

Aster chanced a look as Jack rolled his eyes. 'Peace, apparently.'

Aster stood very still, staring, as Jack continued, 'Which is ridiculous, because we argue all the time, and really, I spend way too much time fighting snow monsters to –'

Still staring blankly at Jack's face, Aster absently interrupted, 'No, it fits, when ye think about it. What's winter but quiet nights at home, enjoying the fruit of yer labours? Armies used to stop fighting during the winter, because it was dangerous. It's the world going to sleep, and mates getting together. It's satisfaction and contentment, comfort and rest. 'sides, if ye're fighting snow monsters, that's bringing peace too, I reckon.'

A thought occurred to him and he chuckled. 'And when the whole Pitch blue happened, we needed ye to set things straight. Seems about right to me.'

Suddenly, Aster realised Jack was staring back at him, silent.

'What?' Aster said, flattening his ears and hunching his shoulders. 'It's true.'

Jack was silent a moment more, then set down his cup. 'I...' He started, then clearly didn't know how to finish. 'You...'

Aster just hunched further. 'I should return to me planting,' he said, and turned to go.

'No, wait, Aster –!'

Jack stood, seeming to forget he could fly, and ducked around the table, almost tripping in his haste. 'Wait,' he said, grabbing on to Aster's arm with hands that felt warmer than they should, thrumming as they were with the afterglow of Life. 'Please don't go.'

Aster held still again – he was doing that a lot lately, he thought – and let himself be turned until he faced Jack. Jack looked up at him, and grinned a crooked grin Aster had never seen before. 'I ever tell you that I was in constant pain?' he said, voice oddly quiet. 'Like there was always something wrong in my core, like there was a big ball of ice that never moved, just pulsed and froze and always, always hurt?'

'Jack,' Aster said, horrified, 'ye should have said someth–'

'I couldn't,' Jack said, his grip loosening until his hand just held on, fingers woven through the fur. 'I couldn't say anything, because I didn't  _know_ .' His hand slid down Aster's arm until it reached his paw, where it tightened again.

'How could ye not know?' Aster insisted.

'Because I didn't know it was there until you did that thing with the blackberry and it was gone.'

Jack's face was open and clear, and like before, there was a new kind of warmth under his voice. 'I had no idea I carried that around until it was healed, Aster, and I feel like I could – god, like I could do anything right now, fly to the moon, breathe water, race the sun –'

'Don't try to breathe water, mate,' Aster said, because it was the only thing he could think to say. Jack laughed in delight.

'No shit,' he gasped out between chuckles. 'Just – Aster, I don't know what you did, but  _thank you_ . I feel alive again. I didn't know I wasn't before.' He leaned forward, and up. 'Which means I'm really sorry to ruin it all, but god, you should have heard yourself.'

'What –' Aster said, but then Jack was kissing him, and how on earth was he supposed to hold onto words after that? He could only fold himself around Jack, wrap his arms around him and fit their pieces together as well as their mouths.

Aster broke away, breath hard to come by in his lungs, and looked at Jack, whose eyes were closed. They opened after a moment, steady and inexorable, and a smile – almost shy – came over his mouth. 'You kissed me back,' Jack said, and the Hope that rose in him was as sweet as the Life that now shone from him.

'I always would,' Aster said, 'and always will. If ye'd like that.'

'I'd like that a lot,' Jack said, and kissed Aster again.

Aster kept his promise.

 

 

 

 

 

::coda::

 

'Why cherries?'

Jack lolled his head in Aster's direction from where he lay beneath a peach tree. 'Hmm?'

'When you came to me Warren and started asking for fruit,' Aster said without turning, instead tilting his ears over, 'why'd ye ask for cherries?'

Jack got up and ambled over, draping himself over Aster's back; though it had only been a handful of weeks since Aster had healed him, Jack had become incredibly comfortable with invading Aster's space. To his surprise, Aster didn't mind. It never felt intrusive. It felt natural, actually, like there'd always been a space for Jack right beside him, and he'd only noticed the absence in the past few years – around the time he figured out who should fill it.

'You'll laugh,' Jack said, and Aster chuckled.

'Probably,' he admitted, 'if it's silly enough. Still want to hear it, if yer willing.'

Jack sighed, but it wasn't put-upon; this was the sound he made when he'd been waiting for Aster to ask a question, and was secretly pleased that he'd done so, but didn't want to let Aster know that he was pleased about it. There were layers and layers of complexity to Jack's voice, and Aster could think of no better way to spend his time than to learn each layer fully.

'I was going to seduce you,' Jack said nonchalantly, and Aster choked.

'Ye were going to  _what_ ?'

'There was a story around when I was a kid,' Jack explained, seemingly unbothered by Aster's surprise, 'that if you could tie a cherry stem in a knot with just your tongue, you were a good kisser. I was going to tell you the story and then prove it, by tying a stem into a knot and then planting one on you.' He laughed a bit. 'Ha, planting. Pun not intended, but it was _perfect_.'

'Ugh, ye and yer puns,' Aster groaned, which only made Jack laugh again, the sound reverberating through Jack's chest and into Aster's own. 'But really? Weeks ago, ye were...'

'And you were oblivious, too,' Jack nodded, his chin brushing Aster's shoulder; he knew there was no significance to a human performing the act, but Jack had picked up on its meaning once Aster had done it, and now kept using it on purpose. 'I was trying, like, everything. And then Nick mentioned you were Life, and I started wondering why, if you were Life, you didn't have all stages of life around you.' He shrugged. 'I thought you'd be happier if you were more comfortable, if you had your life more tailored to you than your image. And a happier Aster is always going to be a good thing.'

'Ye were flirting?' Jack's words made him warm, but he was still stuck on the whole 'flirting for weeks' thing.

'No,' Jack said stubbornly, ' _Seducing_ . Very, very slowly, apparently.' He looped one arm around Aster's neck and nuzzled the back of it. 'Still am.'

Aster paused. 'Ye'd want to –' he waved a hand, because he certainly wasn't a prude, but the idea of Jack wanting to – well. Hmm. 'With me?' he finished, and Jack laughed.

'No, I just make out with people I'm friends with,' Jack said when he could breathe. 'I figured you just wanted to take it slow, or something. Don't tell me that you thought I didn't want to sleep with you.'

A shiver went straight up Aster's spine, which Jack could apparently feel, if the way he plastered himself across Aster's back was anything to judge.

'You clearly have never looked at yourself,' Jack said. 'Or heard yourself talk, or watched yourself garden, because let me tell you, there is a lot to love, there.'

He floated off, and Aster turned. 'You have to know that by now,' he said with a smile that brooked no argument. 'You have to know you're loved, and that I love you.'

Aster's heart beat quickly in his chest as he said, 'I thought ye wouldn't want – well, I reckon I thought kisses and company were what ye wanted.' He shuffled a bit. 'Just because love's there doesn't mean sex has to be, too.'

'Not always,' Jack agreed. 'If that's not what you want, I'll live. But –' Jack leaned into Aster's space, his spot in the air lending him the height advantage. 'I've seen the way you look at me when you think I'm not looking,' he said quietly, looking into Aster's eyes with earnest affection. 'I know that just kisses and company is not what you want, and I know that's not what I want.'

'I love ye,' Aster said without quite meaning to, and Jack smiled beatifically, shining like a saint.

'And I love you,' he said back, drawing closer still and brushing their noses together. 'For years, Bunny,  _years_ .'

'Ye never said anything,' Aster said, heart hurting when he thought about the wasted time.

'I didn't think you felt like that,' and now Jack looked sad, sorrow like clouds in his eyes. 'That was enough to deter me for a long time, until I realised most people don't start out loving each other – they grow into it. And who would know more about growing something than you?'

'But I did love ye.'

'I know that now.' Jack suddenly cracked a great big grin. 'And if you love me, and I love you, and sex is something we both want – why are we still talking, again?'

He slung his arms over Aster's shoulders and dropped out of the air; Aster caught him neatly, paws finding purchase at his thighs before Jack wrapped those around him, too. Then it took all of the self control Aster had to just  _breathe_ when he realised Jack was already hard and rocking forward against him.

He'd never gotten so hard so quickly in his  _life_ , and he had billions of years of memories to compare it to.

Aster dropped to his knees and pressed Jack into the dirt, kissing him deep. Jack seemed all too pleased with this development, laughing in an infectious delight and licking the corner of Aster's mouth when Aster pulled back to breathe, his fingers tangling themselves in the fur of Aster's neck and tugging. 'Come on, Bunny,' Jack said, the words landing on Aster's tongue. 'Come on, I know you can be fast, and that's what I want –'

He was helpless to ignore a plea like _that_ , and though it took some serious coordination efforts – Jack laughing all the while – soon Jack lay under him, naked, his cock straining towards Aster and a painful looking red. Aster bit gently at Jack's shoulder, who arched into the bite hard enough to make it break skin. 'Aster –!' Jack gasped out, voice already wrecked, and Aster knew then that it wasn't just _fast_ Jack had been asking for, it was _rough_ and _alive_ and all sorts of other words that were going to drive Aster out of his mind.

'What do ye want?' Aster asked, licking at the bite mark apologetically; even if it was Jack who'd made it bleed, it was still Aster's teeth that had done the biting.

'Don't _ask_ that,' Jack moaned. 'Everything, I want _everything_ , I don't care what you do as long as you're doing it –'

Well, looked like Jack was a bit of a babbler. That was lovely, Aster thought, and slid his mouth away from the bite mark, making his way south. Experimentally, he flicked the nipple he passed with his tongue, and Jack's hips jerked up like he was electrified.

'Look at ye,' Aster whispered into his skin. 'Yer so...' Responsive, was the word Aster was looking for, but he couldn't manage that many syllables at once. Instead, he licked it again, to hear Jack babble a bit more, and kept moving down.

'Oh, fuck yes,' Jack panted when Aster finally got a paw around him, thrusting up into Aster's grip. 'Oh, fuck that's – Aster, I – _fuck_!'

Aster grinned around his mouthful, taking care as he licked and sucked and generally took away Jack's ability to speak. His teeth were much larger than any humans, and it was a bit of a job keeping them away from Jack's skin, but it was entirely worth it for the way Jack keened and thrust up into Aster's mouth.

'Wait – wait, I know what I – wait –' Jack said, and Aster pulled off with a wet sound that made his own cock twitch; he'd had Jack in his mouth a second ago, and he dared anyone to be unaffected by that. 'I know what I want,' Jack managed at last, hands clutching at Aster's ears. 'I want you to fuck me.'

Aster was a bit stunned by that – because god, the _images_ – but also because Jack's voice was high and breathy and so full of want that it took Aster a moment to process it. 'Ye sure?'

'Oh my god, can I ask more obviously?' Jack groaned, snippy. 'What do you want, it written out and signed in triplicate?' He leaned up, fair curling around Aster's head as he did so, and said in a low voice that should not be allowed, 'I want you fucking me, Aster. I want you to spread my legs and stretch me wide and shove your absolutely gorgeous –'

'Holy dooley, I understand,' Aster interrupted, not sure he would have survived hearing whatever was going to come out of Jack's mouth next. 'Yer a bit of a tart, huh?' he said, and caught Jack's mouth in a loving kiss.

'Only for you, you oblivious weirdo,' Jack said back when Aster pulled away. 'Get on with the program. I said fast, didn't I?'

'I don't want to hurt ye,' Aster murmured, kissing back down to the prettily bruised bite mark, licking it gently when Jack's hips twitched in response.

'You won't,' Jack said, voice dazed but certain. 'You never do.'

It was the work of a few minutes to get Jack open and moaning – he was loose and relaxed, and Aster wondered if maybe earlier he had... He had to let go of the thought when it threatened to end all of Aster's hard work on a distinctly premature note, though. There was oil in one of his bandoleer's compartments, one he used on leaves that looked cracked or dried, and it was perfect for its new use.

'Come on, come on, come on,' Jack repeated, wrapping his legs around Aster's middle.

'I'm going, I'm going,' Aster said as he rolled his eyes and pressed his hips forward, slipping smoothly inside.

Jack's head dropped back to the earth with a cry of ' _Finally_ ' that seemed to rise from the very centre of his bones. He had no problems making Aster move faster than perhaps was wise, dropping his legs and bracing his feet in the dirt and lifting his hips until Aster was buried to the hilt. Aster gripped Jack's hips, holding him up there, not letting him relax to the ground.

'Ye want fast, Jack?' he asked, keeping still with an effort, because Jack was around him, warm like he could never have been before, tight and slick and so many words that Aster couldn't say in English, in any language he knew.

'God, if you can make it hard,' Jack groaned, and that was it, Aster was done.

No teasing first thrust, no gentle build up of tempo; he withdrew and slammed home, driving Jack's shoulders into the ground with it. Jack scrabbled at the dirt, shouting his delight as Aster did it again, and again. Aster had always been a fast runner, but he'd never thought he'd use the skill this way, rooting Jack into the earth and breathing hard all the way.

Jack actually screamed Aster's name when he came, his head thrown back and throat taut with the cry. Aster followed faithfully after, pumping into Jack's trembling body, the muscles convulsing around his cock as he came once, twice in a row.

He lay atop Jack in the aftermath, Jack having made a soft whining noise when he'd tried to rest his weight off of him. He licked the bite mark, chinned the top of his head, generally fussing and making sure he was alright.

'You okay there, Bun-Bun?' Jack asked, mouthing at Aster's jawline.

Unbidden, the sound of Tooth's words drifted in Aster's head. _Don't shut him out_ , she seemed to whisper, and Aster took a deep breath.

'Ye know some filthy language, Jackie,' he said instead of his usual _I'm alright_ , and Jack laughed. 'I'm serious, yer ruining me,' he insisted, and jerked when Jack bit down, pinching his skin through the fur.

'Good,' Jack said. The warmth in his voice that was his renewed Life met with his love, and became something soft with no name. 'You've already ruined _me_.'

 

**Author's Note:**

> Jack you are both a jerk and spectacular just never ever change you little prick


End file.
